Thursday, 9 July 2026

Four supertankers hauling roughly 8 million barrels of crude have exited the Strait of Hormuz or are transiting it now, among them the first Saudi-owned vessels since the war began. Iran has pledged to restore traffic through the waterway to prewar levels within 30 days, according to Rigzone.

The strait carried about 20% of global energy before the war, according to Rigzone. Iran had declared the passage closed after the country came under attack by the US and Israel on Feb. 28.

The two crude benchmarks split as cargoes moved. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery slipped 0.3% to close at $76.60 a barrel, while Brent for August settlement rose 0.4% to $79.85 a barrel.

Goldman Sachs said Persian Gulf exports should now normalize by the end of next month, an earlier timeline than its previous estimate of the end of August. The bank cautioned that flows through the strait may recover to only 70% of prewar levels.

Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma have fallen to about 20 million barrels, a threshold traders treat as an operational minimum, according to Rigzone. The drawdown at the largest US commercial hub keeps physical supply thin even as seaborne barrels resume moving.

At the pump, average nationwide US gasoline has retreated to $3.999 a gallon from a peak of $4.564 last month, according to figures from the American Automobile Association.

MODEC will supply a SOFEC internal turret mooring system for the Coral Norte floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project sited offshore Mozambique, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Eni leads the development, with CNPC, ENH, XRG and KOGAS as partners, OEDigital reported.

Backers cleared the final investment decision in October 2025, and the hull entered the water in January 2026 at Samsung Heavy Industries' shipyard in Geoje, South Korea, according to OEDigital. The developers are aiming to produce first LNG in 2028.

OEDigital reported that Coral Norte follows the design of the earlier Coral Sul FLNG unit and will bring on 3.6 million tonnes per annum of liquefaction capacity.

On the mooring work, MODEC is teaming with the Technip Energies-JGC joint venture to handle integration and execution, according to OEDigital.

A judge dismissed a legal bid to prevent gas fracking in the Top End, according to RenewEconomy.

The Strait of Hormuz stayed closed for over 100 days during the crisis, a shutdown that Offshore Engineer OEDigital said could prove a turning point in global energy markets.

Nearly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies typically pass through the waterway, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The prolonged closure stripped that flow from the market.

Asia carries the heaviest exposure. The region depends on the Middle East for 60% of its oil and gas imports, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

European buyers entered the disruption with weaker underlying demand. European gas demand dropped by over 20% between 2021 and 2023 and has only recovered modestly since, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in April called for exploring alternative supply chains, pursuing mid- to long-term industrial restructuring, and moving toward a plastic-free economy as key national projects, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The response echoes the institutional legacy of an earlier shock. The International Energy Agency (IEA) was formed in 1974 to coordinate global responses to major oil disruptions, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Iranian Offshore Oil Co. placed its 6,200-mt P4 processing platform at the Reshadat field in the Persian Gulf, moving the structure into position through a float-over operation, according to Offshore Magazine.

P4 should lift oil production capacity at Reshadat by roughly 35,000 bbl/d, according to Offshore Magazine. To hold reservoir pressure and back continued development, the platform can pump as much as 80,000 bbl/d of water into the field.

Reshadat lies roughly 90 km from Lavan Island and first flowed oil in 1969, according to Offshore Magazine.

The South Pars infill drilling program runs to 35 wells spread across 17 platforms and is set to bring 36 MMcm/d of new gas production capacity, according to Offshore Magazine.

Pars Oil and Gas Co. secured an environmental permit for Platform A of South Pars Phase 11, a development slated to yield 2 Bcf/d, according to Offshore Magazine. The scheme calls for two wellhead platforms on four-legged jackets in 70 m of water, a 135-km 32-inch subsea pipeline, and 4-inch piggyback return lines that carry three-phase hydrocarbons to the Phase 12 processing facilities at the onshore South Pars Gas Complex.

At the SPD3 border platform, a freshly completed well was sunk to counter pressure decline after more than 23 years of steady output, according to Offshore Magazine. Operators expect it to raise flowing pressure and keep gas production stable.

Aker Solutions signed a five-year service agreement with Cenovus Energy Inc. for engineering and maintenance services on White Rose field assets, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The company classified the deal as "sizeable," which it defines as a value between USD 50 million and USD 150 million.

The scope covers the new West White Rose platform and the SeaRose Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The work includes engineering, maintenance, and operations support.

Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that the West White Rose platform is expected to start production in 2026.

Aker Solutions will lead the work from its office in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, with approximately 120 employees involved onshore and offshore, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The contract will be booked as order intake in the second quarter of 2026 in the Life Cycle segment, per the same report.

The White Rose field lies approximately 350 km east of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on the eastern edge of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Aker Solutions has delivered offshore engineering services to the White Rose field since 2005, the report said.

Europe avoided the jet fuel crisis that some had feared heading into its summer-vacation season, drawing on higher local refinery output and increased imports from suppliers outside the Middle East, according to Rigzone.

The continent's reliance on Persian Gulf imports had raised concern after the Iran war blocked cargo flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping corridor tankers must pass to reach global markets, Rigzone reported.

Refiners across the continent responded by pushing more barrels toward jet fuel. Two months into the conflict, Shell plc said every oil refinery in Europe was maximizing jet fuel output to help cope with the Hormuz blockage, according to Rigzone.

Spanish refiner Repsol SA said it managed to increase jet fuel yields by up to 25%, according to an emailed response cited by Rigzone.

The supply gap left by falling Middle East cargoes was filled from elsewhere. Jet fuel arrivals into Europe soared from the United States and Nigeria as imports from the Middle East plunged, Rigzone reported.

Demand held up through the disruption. European air traffic remained healthy and surpassed 2025 levels in recent weeks, according to figures from Eurocontrol cited by Rigzone.

Airlines reported no expected strain on supply. "Our fuel suppliers don't expect problems this summer," said Thomas Thessen, chief analyst at SAS AB, according to Rigzone.

The combination of surging local production and higher imports from non-Middle East suppliers helped Europe avert the shortage some had anticipated, Rigzone reported.

Crude output at Kazakhstan's Karachaganak oil and gas field fell by more than a quarter after a drone strike shut a Russian plant that processes the field's gas, World Oil reported.

Output has dropped to 25,000 tons of crude per day from a normal 34,000 tons, Interfax reported, citing Kazakhstan Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov. Bloomberg calculations put the reduced rate at just above 180,000 bpd.

The field is one of Kazakhstan's three largest hydrocarbon projects and supplies roughly 10% of national oil production, according to World Oil.

The supply cut traces to Wednesday's drone strike on the Orenburg gas-processing plant in Russia, sited around 170 kilometers from the Kazakh border, World Oil reported. Ukraine's General Staff said the plant stopped operating after the strike, though Bloomberg has not independently confirmed that account.

Kazakhstan is sticking with its target to pump 98 million tons of oil this year, Interfax reported.